ClearFoundation

If anyone is interested I have built an RPM of the MiniDLNA server for ClearOS. It can be found here (it is statically linked so has no dependencies):

download.opensuse.org/repositories/home:...multimedia/CentOS_5/

In case you are not familiar with DLNA, it allows you (on the server) to define directories containing media (music, videos, pictures) that can be streamed to DLNA clients. DLNA clients include the PS3, XBox 360, many new TVs, etc.

MiniDLNA is very easy to configure. Just edit the media_dir= variable in the /etc/minidlna.conf file to define the directory containing the media you want to make available to DLNA clients. Multiple media_dir= entries can be defined in the config file for different directories. Also, you can specify what type of media is in each defined directory.

***This would be an awesome addition to Flexshares if you ask me.***

Disclosure: DLNA is based on UPnP so the same security issues apply. (Don't run it on the external interface or share directories you need to restrict access to)

Cheers,

Ron

Nice! thanks very much - gonna download it now

Just to add - install and configures very easily, I would say it works even better than Twonky on my network and digital photo frames, although i've yet to test with my PS3

After install and configuring run 'service minidlna start' to get it going

Would love it if someone could report on PS3 and xbox360 streaming - sounds very interesting!

Works great on my PS3, and I noticed it starts streaming mp3's straight away, where as twonky use to download the whole song before playing. It works quicker too browsing around the file structures I've not tried on videos and I doubt it does transcoding though

I'd be interested to know how nicely it plays with the PS3 as well, and how flexible it is with arranging/accessing the content. I've used TwonkyServer for a couple of years and although it works well in most respects, it's not without its problems.

So, I'm always up for trying new DLNA servers so I'll take a look at this as well - thanks for posting it up.

Mark.

Ok I'm trying to get this to work. I installed teh rpm. I edited teh config file for eth3 and to use /home/parker/xbox for the directory I want it to share. There is music in that folder and if I try service minidlna start I get the error. No shares available.

So can someone help and tell me what I'm doing wrong?

I already have all my media setup under a flexshare folder, so all I had to do was add the path to /etc/minidlna.conf, and start the service. It really is that simple You canspecify as many paths as you want, so far it's won me over on it's sheer simplicity...

For example - I have subfolders under a media flexshare


Also changed the interface=eth0 variable so it was on my LAN, and the name too

Wow I did a dumb mistake. I put a # before it. Took it out and presto it works going to try on my 360 soon. I will tell yah how it works.

Installed and configured OK. Ran some quick tests and appears to be working fine. I think it needs more flexibility in the arranging/grouping of the content though, eg. choosing music by artist presents one huge list of every artist, and choosing photos by date taken presents every date. This is fine for smaller media collections, but unwieldy for larger ones.

So, promising so far and I'm sure the additional flexibility will come as it develops (and Twonky is not perfect in this department either).

Edit: Adding some plus points...

Initial scan didn't seem to take very long (no exact stats though)
Restart time almost instant - no rescan apparent (maybe due to use of inotify to pick up changes)
Seems pretty snappy flicking between content (ie. next song/picture) - noticeably more responsive than TMS.